Joey's Predicament
by ShinerWrites
Summary: Joey's developed some unfortunate feelings for his roomate and friend. What a pickle he's in, if only he could know with certainty how his crush will react to his feelings. Set in early season 3. Chanoey. Rated T for later and because paranoia. Some Phoebe-Joey friendship fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N) This is my first multi chapter story, so tell me what you think!**

Joey wasn't happy with this.

Ever since the gang teased him for being the shortest of the guys, Chandler had taken to using him as an armrest.

It was embarrassing, taunting, and subtly rude.

But possibly worst of all, it seemed Joey had begun to develop these feelings towards Chandler, and that fact made this whole armrest thing incredibly uncomfortable.

And that brings us to now, where Joey is standing as Chandler talks with Rachel, Chandler's arm on his head. No one else is in Monica's apartment except the three of them.

Joey's heart is beating quickly, more so than usual.

"Bye Rachel," Chandler said as Rachel left Monica's apartment.

Great, now it's the two of them.

Chandler pulled back, taking his arm off of Joey's head.

And he must've noticed the blush on Joey's face, because he raises an eyebrow at him curiously, "what's wrong?"

Joey shook his head, "nothing. I mean…"

"What?" Chandler said, "you can tell me."

Joey looked around, "I just… please don't lean on my head like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Chandler said, "what bothered you about it so much?"

Joey began feeling an unfamiliar panic in his gut, "um… Just, I'm shortest of you- the guys- and I mean- it's embarrassing, and yeah, I mean like you don't have to rub it in, right?"

"Oh," Chandler stared at Joey, "I'm sorry I embarrassed you." He pushed Joey's hair out of his face.

A deep red blush appeared on Joey's face, "I'm gonna go to the coffeehouse," he said, quickly getting up and leaving.

Chandler stared after Joey as he left, " _well that was weird."_

The bell on the front door rang as Joey entered Central Perk. Phoebe sat on the stool, strumming her guitar, "la la la la la la, lalala," she sang badly.

"Oh hi Joey," Phoebe piped up, putting her guitar down and moving to the big brown chair before frowning, "oh! Oh! Oh no!"

"What?" Joey raised an eyebrow, taking a seat on the couch.

Phoebe shook her head, "your aura is all off! Tell me, what's wrong?"

Joey was only a bit surprised, as Phoebe had a way of sensing such things, "well, it's because Chandler has taken to using my head as an armrest, and it's embarrassing because I'm the shortest of the guys, and he's taunting me!"

"Right, oh, and because you have a crush on him," Phoebe said as if it was common knowledge.

"Yeah!" Joey said without thinking, "wait, I mean, I don't have a crush on Chandler!"

Phoebe gave him a look, "Joey."

"Fine! How did you know?!" Joey exclaimed.

Phoebe shook her head, "oh dear Joey. I just know these things."

"Ugh," Joey whined, "but what do I _do?_ "

Phoebe leaned forward, "you tell him! Obviously!"

Joey sighed, "but what if he doesn't accept that, y'know, I'm bisexual, maybe…"

"Then screw him!" Phoebe exclaimed as if it were obvious.

"Pheebs, that's what I'm trying to do here," Joey huffed.

Phoebe sighed, "just, if he's worth it, he'll accept you."

"But what about his dad?" Joey said.

Phoebe smiled, "he's angry at his dad for leaving when he was young. Sadly, it may have clouded his view of the lgbt community, but I doubt that the reason for his anger is his dad's attraction to men, it's him leaving. Hopefully that will show through in his reaction if you decide to come out to him."

"Thanks Pheebs," Joey smiled.

"Oh no problem," Phoebe giggled. "It's practically my job around here," she muttered under her breath, sitting back into her seat.

 _"Oh God,"_ Joey thought, _"I can't tell Chandler I like him, he'll freak!"_

 **Hey guys, I hope you liked the first chapter! You can expect updates, and in the meantime, I'll be posting oneshots of various fandoms and pairings! Please review if you have any criticisms. Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N): Just for time reference, the first part of the last chapter took place during Rachel and Chandler's lined up lunch hour at 12:00, they were hanging out for lunch till 1:00, and this is probably written proof I have no idea how jobs work. So do your best to ignore my logic.**

" _I can't tell Chandler I like him,"_ Joey thought, " _he'll freak."_

And even four hours later, Joey is still having the same thought pattern, " _oh my God. I_ _ **actually**_ _like Chandler!"_

"Hey man," Chandler said, walking through the door.

Joey was startled, "you're home early! You weren't supposed to be back till 6:00!"

"Yeah," Chandler smiled at his early arrival home, "but we completed our main objective early, so my boss congratulated everyone and told us to take the rest of the day off."

"Oh," Joey said, "cool."

The two sat in silence before Chandler broke it, "foosball?"

Joey smiled, "sure."

And so the two played foosball. It was good, it was comfortable. But was it what Joey really wanted? Not exactly.

The next day, everyone was at the coffeehouse as usual, Phoebe was telling everyone about the weirdest things she's found while dumpster diving.

"Pheebs, you did _not_ find a dismembered hand in a dumpster," Rachel said disbelievingly.

But Joey wasn't really engrossed in the conversation, as hard to believe as it was.

Oh no, he had other things on his mind. Because instead of pining after Chandler, he'd decided to try and seduce him. He would have to make a plan, and Phoebe was the only one he could talk to about this.

This, Joey had decided, was going to be awesome.

And so Central Perk closed, everyone went back to their apartments, and Joey went to knock on Phoebe's door.

Joey held a fist over the door and considered briefly before…

Knock knock knock.

Phoebe opened the door, "hey Joey, what's up?"

"I think I know what I'm going to do about my feelings for Chandler," Joey said.

Phoebe sighed, "other then tell him how you feel?"

Joey shrugged, "well, sort of."

"Joey," Phoebe furrowed her brows, "what?"

"I'm going to seduce him," Joey said.

"You don't mean like, openly lighting candles and dressing provocatively, do you?" Phoebe's expression became concerned.

"No no no," Joey said, "just, y'know, flirt and stuff."

"Oh, good for you!" Phoebe brightened.

Joey smiled.

But then Phoebe raised an eyebrow, "but how do you plan to go about this?"

"That's, uh, kinda what I was hoping you would help me with," Joey gave her a lopsided smile.

Phoebe giggled, "well then you should come in, we have a lot to talk about."

Joey smiled and walked into his friend's apartment.

That very night, Joey tried to sneak back into their apartment, but Chandler was already there on his recliner.

"Hey Joe," Chandler said, swiveling around to face Joey, "where've you been?"

"Uh," Joey said, "Phoebe's."

"Um, cool," Chandler shrugged awkwardly, "how come?"

Joey panicked internally, "um, no reason, just hanging out."

Joey walked quickly into his room, "I'm kinda beat, man."

"Well," Chandler said, narrowing his eyes at Joey's room door, "that was weird."

 **(A/N): Thank you for reading, please review!**


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